Yes, it's not allowed in public. You're supposed to complain to the moderators in private.

Andrew

Oops! Sorry about that. I honestly didn't mean "troll" in the sense that it normally gets stated, (more of an "I like this question" rather than an "Oh brother, not another troll!" ) but nonetheless .... thanks for the reminder.

Oops! Sorry about that. I honestly didn't mean "troll" in the sense that it normally gets stated, (more of an "I like this question" rather than an "Oh brother, not another troll!" ) but nonetheless .... thanks for the reminder.

Well, it's important to have guidelines, because in a moment of thoughtlessness it can be easy to accidentally say something that hurts someone's feelings. I've been on both sides, so whatever their policies are, I try to cooperate.

The only thing I found wrong with the OP's post was that although the question itself was rather innocuous, it wasn't really asked in a "just curious," conversational kind of way. It smacked of a; "so when when did you stop beating your wife?" kind of question.

So I don't think the OP did anything atrocious... but they did ask a bit of a loaded question. And the choices for answers only allowed for the possibilities that ebook buyers had either "forgotten" the pleasures of physical book browsing, or traded that pleasure for convenience. That's all I was responding to.

The reason I responded seriously to the question is because there are a lot of people who find shopping a joy and a pleasure, and sometimes it's not (very often) on their radar that there are people who, for whatever reasons, shopping just isn't on the list of things they do except out of necessity.

I too have issues with anxiety and agoraphobia, and occasionally I can shop and have a pretty good time, but for the most part, I try to avoid situations that draw attention to it (in public). I am often fine with my husband or kids. who respect my needs. But it takes a LOT of motivation to get me anywhere near a mall by myself.

True, because filesize often is a poor indicator of book length, especially if books are artificially bloated with graphical chapter headers and fancy giant first paragraph letters that take up a good 8MB of space.

(Literally, I bought a romance novel that I downloaded at 8MB, when I exploded the epub, what was taking up the space was all of that, when I pitched the images folder, the REAL text size of 0.3MB was revealed (0.3 - 0.5 is about the average size of a novel IME)

None of those three choices apply at all. I never really found the book-browsing experience all that pleasurable in the first place ... to be perfectly honest. So nothing to "forget" or to be "displaced" here.

I like to read books. Pure and simple. I don't care about holding them, sniffing them, feeling their texture, locating them, talking to other people who are trying to locate them, lovingly perusing their spines/covers, or leaving them in conspicuous places so people can notice them and hopefully be impressed with my impeccable tastes. I like to gobble up their contents and move on to the next one, ASAP. That's it. Nothing else. I've always loved book guts waaaay more than the physical object previously known as "book."

So ebooks were a complete no-brainer for me. No gasoline involved, no time spent traveling to where the books all hang out before I buy them, no shipping and handling costs to get them delivered to me, and no annoying person trying to make small talk and generally delaying my mission to immerse myself in my new book's guts. That, and being less than a minute away from "that sounds like a cool book" to "look at me reading that cool book." And oh yeah ... Free Sample Chapters of any book that catches my eye and the synopsis doesn't turn me off.

The "book" is a lie ... the "words" are where all the value lies. Ebooks allow me to easily skip right past all the distracting lies.

Enjoy your (I'm assuming) brief sojourn among the philistines.

I actually still very enjoy browsing in bookstores, but other than that I agree completely with everything Diapdealer said. Whn ereaders came out, I was totally against them. Prefer the feel of the book in my hand, the smell, cover art, blah blah blah. Then the Kindle 3 came out and it was affordable, and I learned of the free public domain stuff available hear and on Project Gutenburg and elsewhere, and I became a convert. I've had my Kindle for over 2 years now and have not looked back.

The physical book itself is enjoyable, but also a distraction. It's an imperfect vehicle. I find I read much faster with my kindle because it does a great job of getting out of the way of the words. It's a "purer" book reading experience. Not having to hold a bulky book open means it become possible to read in more situations (i.e. being able to easily read while eating lunch which is my ritual every single workday).

The OP is Too Active on the site to be considered a Troll. I read other posts made by them in other threads. Since this site is ALL about eReaders & eBooks I just wondered why they joined. I once asked a computer question got slamed by the PTB & that WAS about an eBook! But my thread was Removed & mods sent me nasty note about it! Anyway I would think the OP would be more comfortable on sites that deal with PB/HB books. Sites like PaperBackSwap.com they have a forum for members to talk about books All Kinds & general every day things. Of course they also swap books! LOL

One thing I dont like about ebooks is not all are lendable. & once you buy they cant be shared with others. Unlike paperbacks I buy dont like I can pass it to some one who might enjoy it. Limits the amount of money I want to spend on ebook!

I am not saying anyone did anything wrong per se but to post on a forum about how the topic activity of the forum is inferior etc. to what I shall call non-mobile-reading is kind of annoying and condescending.

I am not saying anyone did anything wrong per se but to post on a forum about how the topic activity of the forum is inferior etc. to what I shall call non-mobile-reading is kind of annoying and condescending.

Perhaps the OP actually made a cry for help? Make us convince him that ereaders are the way to go -- because he is lusting for one and can't justify it to himself?

To me it isn't even close. I will never buy a pbook again (except perhaps photography books). Ebooks are more convenient to search for and to buy, no shipping charges, no storage problems, always available anywhere, I much prefer reading on the Kindle to reading a pbook, etc. I could go on all day.